Pepperdine University Pepperdine Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations 2014 Productive play : exploring participant motivations of a modding community surrounding a massively multiplayer online game Eric Ellis Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd Recommended Citation Ellis, Eric, "Productive play : exploring participant motivations of a modding community surrounding a massively multiplayer online game" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 515. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/515 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology PRODUCTIVE PLAY: EXPLORING PARTICIPANT MOTIVATIONS OF A MODDING COMMUNITY SURROUNDING A MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAME A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Technology by Eric Ellis December, 2014 Linda Polin, Ph.D. – Dissertation Chairperson This dissertation, written by Eric Ellis under the guidance of a Faculty Committee and approved by its members, has been submitted to and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Doctoral Committee: Linda Polin, Ph.D., Chairperson Margaret Riel, Ph.D. Holly Ludgate, Ed.D. © Copyright by Eric Ellis (2014) Some Rights Reserved This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................ vii VITA ........................................................................................................................................................ ix ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1: The Problem. ............................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Exploring the Emergent Experience of User-Generated Content ............................................ 2 An example: Responses to Upheaval in the WoW Glyph Market ........................................... 4 Research Questions and Their Potential Ramifications ........................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Review of Relevant Literature. ................................................................................................. 12 Communities of Practice: A Sociocultural Theory of Learning ............................................ 13 Identity and Motivation in CoPs ............................................................................................ 15 The Evolution of CoP Theory: From Observation to Intentional Creation ........................... 16 Free and Open Source Software Development as a CoP ....................................................... 18 The Motivations of F/OSS Projects ....................................................................................... 20 Community as Product, not Byproduct, of F/OSS ................................................................. 22 F/OSS as Commentary and Communication ......................................................................... 23 A Very Short History of the Rise of Game Mods .................................................................. 27 Game Modding and F/OSS: Similarities and Differences ..................................................... 29 Two Perspectives on the Motivation of Modders .................................................................. 32 Playbour: An Alternate Image of Participation ..................................................................... 36 Closing Thoughts: Passion, Practice and Communities ........................................................ 40 Chapter 3: Methodology and Procedures. ................................................................................................... 43 Research Paradigm ................................................................................................................ 43 Research Framework ............................................................................................................. 44 Planned Data Collection ........................................................................................................ 45 Concerns for Ensuring Research Validity ............................................................................. 46 Ethnographic Methodologies for Interviewing and Analysis ................................................ 46 Identification of Key Informants for Initial Phase of Interviews ........................................... 48 Demographic Descriptions of the Interview and Survey Participants ................................... 53 Developing the Interview Instruments ................................................................................... 56 Data Collection During Interview Cycles .............................................................................. 59 Development of the Second Phase Survey Instrument .......................................................... 60 Evaluating the Credibility of this Research ........................................................................... 63 v Page Chapter 4: Results. ...................................................................................................................................... 68 Mutual Engagement: Descriptions of Addon Developers’ Personal Identity ........................ 68 Joint Enterprise: Descriptions of the Practice of Addon Developers ..................................... 73 Joint Enterprise: Addon Development Evolves as a Social Experience ................................ 75 Shared Repertoire: How the Practice of Addon Development is Learned ............................ 78 Joint Enterprise: How the Practice of Addon Development is Experienced by Developers . 81 Shared Repertoire: How are the Rewards of Addon Development Described? .................... 82 Joint Enterprise: How Developers Use Intellectual Property while Learning their Practice . 87 Shared Repertoire: How Developers Change Perspective on Intellectual Property .............. 88 Shared Repertoire: Competing Perspectives on how Open Addons Should Be .................... 90 Joint Enterprise: How Property Rights are Observed after Developers Leave Community .. 92 Conclusions: Answering the Research Question ................................................................... 94 Chapter 5: Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 100 A Brief Comment on Research in Virtual Communities ..................................................... 103 Ramifications for other Communities and Videogames of the Future ................................ 105 Communities of Passion: A Framework for Future Exploration ......................................... 110 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 117 APPENDIX A: Addon Developer Interview Instrument .......................................................................... 124 APPENDIX B: Addon Community Facilitator Interview Instrument ...................................................... 127 APPENDIX C: Consent to Participate in the Research Study: Interview portion .................................... 130 APPENDIX D: Sample E-mail Requesting Participant Interview............................................................ 132 APPENDIX E: Secondary Survey for Addon Developers ....................................................................... 134 APPENDIX F: IRB Exemption Notice ..................................................................................................... 147 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Descriptions of Addon Developers ............................................................................................... 53 Table 2. Historical Practice of Developers ................................................................................................. 54 Table 3. Instrument Codings ....................................................................................................................... 59 Table 4. Developer Role and Identity ......................................................................................................... 69 Table 5. Description of Community ........................................................................................................... 71 Table 6. Developer Initial Motivation ......................................................................................................... 74 Table 7. Developer Description
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